This week's share makes me a bit sad. See that beautiful Romanesco Cauliflower in the middle there? I did not get to use it and it went bleh on me!

This week also makes me happy - see the little bunch of green on the left? It was celery and it was so cute to look at that despite not liking celery, it made me smile. My little guy took the little celery stalks in his lunch with a bit of dip, so this veggie at least did not go to waste.

I have not been doing anything with my beets for now but instead am saving them up for when I can make pickled beets.

Fall is very much in evidence around here, with the colors of the leaves and farmers cutting down yellowed corn fields. Where it isn't matching up is in the temperature. Suddenly we have some heat again, along with humidity. So while we might be thinking more warming meals, there is still time to get summertime bbq in.

Well last week was a good week to indicate why I like writing my menu plan in pencil. Monday's chicken parmesan turned into chicken with tomatoes sauce and pasta when I could not find my breadcrumbs or parmesan cheese and ran out of mozzarella cheese. Thursday turned into take out Chinese food night when the day turned into a busy, sick kid day.

So here is trying again this week!

Sunday: Left over from last week's plan: Potato and Leek galette with pork tenderloin and garlic spinach (note this turned into grilled chicken breast when the pork was still so frozen solid that it was not cookable yet.)

No, you aren't seeing double in this picture. There really is two big bunches of carrots.

Our CSA this week didn't come with both bunches, we made use of the trade box instead. For a change I had my oldest son with me for pick up, instead of my little one, and he made a huge, icky face when he picked up the kale. Then he made a nice, but still huge face, when Stephanie, the Roots and Shoots intern who is our pick up contact, pointed out the big bunch of carrots in the trade box.

It's been awhile, but back to school and back to a more "normal" work week mean that my sanity could be saved by doing a menu plan again. Even though we still have several weeks left of CSA, which will slightly influence what produce I have to work with, I think I have a pretty good idea of what's coming, and what we will have to eat right away or I can store away for future use. Plus, alot of the produce can be used in lunches as well, so I don't have to use it exclusively in my dinner planning.

Just a note about this weeks' menu. I've been feeling very unimaginative in the kitchen lately, staring a items and going blank with what to do with them, so for this week, aside from a few family favorites, I've relied alot on my Everyday Food App for my iPhone for suggestions.

Sunday: We will be out of town all day, so chance are we will eat on the road.

I don't think I traded anything from this share, but I also don't think I ever ended up doing anything with the kale. However that pint of lovely tomatoes were eaten as is with a bit of salt and pepper, soooooo good!

Here is week eight.

Red Cabbage

Garlic

Cucumber

Onions

Radish

Head Lettuce

New Potatoes

Beets

Tomatoes

1 hotpepper

Pepper

I picked a uniform type of potato, what looked like a russet to me, when I took my potatoes from the bin this week. I baked these on the bbq, tossed in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, and they were amazing with a bit of sour cream, cheese and some of the greens from my onions.